


A plan gone astray

by Vinushuka



Series: One year with Apocalyptica [7]
Category: Apocalyptica
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:13:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2750693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinushuka/pseuds/Vinushuka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The plan to use a decoy to lure Eicca away from Franky backfires. Instead of coming back together with Perttu Eicca seems to be drifting further apart from him. Anna struggles with her feelings-Patrik is more than a decoy for her. The long recording trip to Nashville may be pivotal for all of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A favour

## A favour (1)

I wasn’t at first worried about that fact that I couldn’t locate Patrik in my sprit form. I just thought that I missed some essential information which prevented me from finding him. Eventually I started to search him at his office. I knew where it was so I should be able to find him there, but I couldn’t get even a tiniest glimpse of him. Finally I tested my abilities on my class mate Tiina. Everything worked fine although I knew preciously little about her. There was nothing wrong with me, the problem was with Patrik.

       I wrecked my brain trying to understand why my radar didn’t work on Patrik. On Saturday I finally remembered one similar case from my past. At that time I was testing my skills and amused myself by trying to enter the bodies of my friends. During one of those secret sessions I bumped into a guy that was completely immune to my powers. I couldn’t find him and I couldn’t enter into his mind no matter how hard I tried. I learned later that he was a shield. Maybe Patrik was too. Of course he had no idea that there was something exceptional in his brain. The only way to confirm my suspicions was to test it in practice next Monday.

      I arrived at the institute earlier than normally to allow time for my test. Patrik was sitting in the cafeteria as usual browsing his pad computer and sipping a cup of coffee. He didn’t notice me so I headed into the lavatory, closed the door behind me and started to concentrate on finding him where I knew he was.  Nothing happened. Oh shit, we had a problem that was going to ruin all our fine plans.

      I decided to call Kirsi to explain the situation to her. “I could of course tell him about our problem and ask him to help. He is a very nice person and he might do that for me. But it is always risky to involve extra people in matters like this.” Kirsi listened carefully to my proposal and asked if I really trusted the guy. “Yeah, I trust him. I think he’s the only person that could pull this through.” I didn’t mention that I still loved him so badly that my heart bled when I saw him sitting there absorbed in his computer. Kirsi asked me to do what I considered best and wished me good luck.

      I walked into the cafeteria trying to find the courage to ask for his help. “Hi, you’re early today”, Patrik said and flashed at me his gorgeous smile that always made my knees weak.

     “Yeah, I wanted to see you before the class because I have a favour to ask of you”, I started and sat in front of him feeling nervous.

      “A new wish, maybe?” he snickered reminding me of the three wishes he had fulfilled earlier.

      “No, it’s not a wish but a favour. I would like you to do something for me.”

       “Go ahead, shoot”, he said and was now paying his full attention to me. I explained him the situation in Apocalyptica, the break-up of Eicca’s and Perttu’s long term relationship and what we had planned together with Kirsi. “So you want me to seduce Eicca away from Franky and then leave him?”

      “Yes. I know that’s cruel, but we think that’s the only way”, I replied feeling uneasy. I wasn’t sure anymore that our scheming would lead to the end result we wanted.

      “What makes you think I would want to do all this?” Patrik asked tilting his head and gazing me in the eye like he wanted to hypnotize me.

      “I don’t know. Maybe you would like to make acquaintance with Eicca and Perttu too. They are both great guys, actually they all are”, I replied carefully. I didn’t want Patrik to see how uncomfortable I was. Talking about his sexual orientation was still difficult for me.

      Patrik gazed me with his lovely grey eyes and took my hand. “You know, I would do anything for you…” he said and made me blush again. I wanted him so much that I had to force myself to stay put and not to grab him into my arms.

       “Would you? That would be great! I will return the favour to you one day whatever it takes”, I promised and squeezed his hand trying to hide my tears.

      We spent the remaining time before the class and also some time after it in going through the details and planning our next move. We agreed that Patrik would call Eicca on Tuesday and propose a meeting with him for Wednesday. The idea of using a study of internationally successful Finnish rock bands as an excuse for the meeting came from Patrik. A study like that was actually going on in his company but Patrik was not the person in charge of the project.

      I was really relieved that Patrik agreed to my proposal. Our plan was so crazy that he might as well have laughed at me and dismissed me as mentally ill.  I assumed that he agreed to do me a favour because he was actually very interested in meeting Eicca – who wouldn’t be. Now we would only have to hope that Eicca would agree to meet Patrik.

\----

       I was thrilled when Perttu briefed me about Patrik’s visit on Wednesday. Everything had gone perfectly: Eicca had been more than satisfied with the interview and, best of all, they would continue it on Thursday evening. Patrik was doing his job better than I expected. I called Kirsi to let her know about our success. Eicca would probably also tell her himself about the meeting but I wanted to make sure Kirsi had the whole picture.

      I had the closure of my house deal on Thursday. It would have been perfect if I’d had Perttu there with me, but I was anyway happy to have finally my own house and garden. If Perttu would move in with me sometimes later it would make me even happier. But I had my doubts. Maybe he wasn’t ready to do that yet. The idea of living together had turned up at a very early stage of our relationship and I had been maybe too eager to make it happen. Maybe we should take it a bit slower and let time show us the correct solution.

      Anyway we celebrated my new house with a bottle of sparkling wine and I reminded Perttu that he could move in as my tenant. He didn’t object to that so maybe he was really considering my offer as a viable alternative.

      The argument Eicca and Franky had on Friday morning really raised my hopes high. The idea of generating distrust was really working. Franky doubted Eicca’s motives and was clearly jealous of the young, good looking consultant, who had popped up in Eicca’s life out of nowhere. The remaining two days of Franky’s visit would show if we succeeded in our plan. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to join Saturday’s working session because I had to prepare for my move.  I trusted that Perttu would report to me if anything significant happened. Patrik was now pretty much working on his own. He didn’t need my advice, perhaps he didn’t even want it. For what I understood he had wrapped Eicca around his little finger already on Thursday evening when they had dined together.

        Perttu invited me to spend Friday evening with him. I think he was still sorry for our little “misunderstanding” a week ago and wanted to make amends.  I didn’t mind him doing that. I still couldn’t bear to remember the shock he had put me through and the feelings of fury, disappointment and deep sorrow that followed. Perttu had shown me my place even though he didn’t mean to do that. I was just an old woman wanting something I didn’t deserve. But, for the time being, he wanted to spend time with me and I was happy for every minute he gave me. So I accepted his invitation. We would have a nice dinner, talk about our future and make love after that, I hoped.


	2. Chop and change

## Chop and change (2)

      “Where do you keep your kitchen knives?” I called Perttu, who was laying the table in the living room.

      “They are in the top drawer on the left side of kitchen isle.” he replied and walked back into the kitchen to fetch wine glasses and napkins.

      “These are not very sharp”, I complained feeling the blade of a vegetable knife with my thumb.

       “Sorry, I haven’t checked their condition lately. I don’t do much cooking. Besides, dull blades may be safer for me. I don’t want to hurt my precious fingers”, he snickered and grabbed my waist from behind.  I felt his soft lips on the side of my neck and his teeth nibbling my ear. “We will never get dinner, if you continue that much longer”, I warned him. I wanted him so much that I could have made love with him right there on the kitchen floor.

      “One tiny kiss won’t hurt anybody”, he mumbled in my ear and whirled me around to kiss me properly. The kiss started as an innocent one, but turned very soon into overwhelming passion that couldn’t be controlled. His hands were all over my body while mine were opening the buttons of his shirt to remove the obstacles between his skin and mine. All I could think about was his gorgeous hairy belly and the wonderful thing he had in his jeans. “I don’t want any dinner yet, I want you”, he breathed and grabbed my hand to lead me to his bedroom.

      In no time we had ripped our clothes off and landed on the bed clutching to each other like maniacs. He grabbed my wrists, pinned them on the side of my head and pushed himself inside me hard and deep. His long hair fell on my face when he gazed me at close distance while fucking me. I stared into his eyes as if he had hypnotized me. I just wanted to see him and feel him inside me, nothing else in this world mattered. This was all I wanted and needed and I had it right now.

     I locked my legs around him and kept him inside me long after he had filled me with his semen. I ran my fingers through his hair and let my hands wander on his back and behind. “Where have you hidden your wings? Aren’t angels supposed to have them somewhere here?” I asked feeling the skin between his shoulder blades with my hands.

      “They are in maintenance”, he mumbled half asleep

      “What colour are they?” I asked enjoying our little conversation.

      “Black, of course. I am a fallen angel, don’t you remember that?”

      Yes, I remembered that. I couldn’t help tears flooding my eyes when I recalled the last time we had talked about this. That was the day, when we travelled to his summer cottage and he told me that he would like to live with me. That seemed like a long time ago.

      “Do you still want to move in with me?” I asked encouraged by the fact that he remembered our discussion back then. I could feel his muscles tighten slightly when I popped out the question I’d been wanting to ask the whole week.

      “I’ve been thinking about that, but I’m not ready to decide yet.  There are so many things to consider. I need a lot of privacy due to my composing work, I’m away a lot and then there’s this issue with Eicca…”

      “And Mikko”, I added.

      “How do you know about that?” Perttu asked, suddenly very concerned.

      “Isn’t it obvious? He’s in love with you whether he accepts it himself or not.”

      “Maybe so, but I can’t be sure before he tells me himself. He is very careful at the moment. He doesn’t want to mess up things any more than they already are.  And this consultant Patrik bothers me.  Eicca has been like a different person after he turned up. There are too many moving pieces in this puzzle right now.”

      I smiled internally to his last comment. I had introduced Patrik into this game but I couldn’t be sure how he would change it.

      “Okay, I can wait for your decision and you can stay at my place any time you want to. There’s plenty of room there”, I replied. Actually I was relieved that that Perttu didn’t want to rush into things. I had realized that I too needed my privacy. I still had difficulties to forget my feelings for Patrik and I needed time to mourn over him. Patrik was puzzling me. Everybody around him seemed to fall in love with the guy; first me, then Eicca and I had my concerns for Perttu too. What was the secret of that guy?

        It was already quite late, when we finally got our dinner cooked. Perttu helped me by chopping the vegetables as he had promised and did my best to cuddle him while he was doing that. We had great fun working together now that we had already handled the most difficult issues on our plate. 

      During the dinner we enjoyed music and talked about Perttu’s plans to compose an opera together with Eicca. I wasn’t aware of this new, enormous challenge and understood much better why he needed his privacy. I didn’t stay the night this time as I knew he had a working day on Saturday. I had got everything I wanted from this evening and was happy to continue my packing the next day.


	3. Hard to resist

## Hard to resist (3)

      The pain of missing Patrik hit me without a warning when I was packing my books on Saturday morning and came across an old notebook I had used in my Japanese studies earlier during the autumn. He had scribbled a kanji on one of its pages. I remembered how he made me guess what it was. Of course I didn’t have a clue, but I guessed just to make him happy and give him a chance to show his skills. Patrik wanted to be the best and I knew that. I made him compete with me just for the fun of it. I could spend much more time in my Japanese studies than him and still he managed to keep ahead of me.

      Tears flooded my eyes when I browsed through the notebook. I remembered him sitting in front of me and snickering at me when I made stupid mistakes in my pronunciation. I wanted to see him and feel him again so much that it made my head hurt. Suddenly it occurred to me that Eicca might have some plans with him that I didn’t know about.  Maybe I should check on Eicca in my spirit form to find out what he was up to. I knew that the band was working all day so I had no difficulties in finding Eicca. To my surprise I found Patrik with him. Patrik was crying desperately and Eicca was trying to comfort him the best he could. Eicca was holding him in his arms like a child - Patrik was a tall man but Eicca was taller. Eicca tapped Patrik’s back and stroked his hair that had been tied in a hurry into a loose ponytail.

       I could see that Patrik’s anxiety was real and I felt deep sympathy for him. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with him because I hadn’t heard the beginning of their conversation. I got my explanation when Perttu and Franky turned up and Eicca told them what had happened. Patrik had been fired. I could imagine how hard that was for him. He was a very ambitious and competitive guy and getting fired, although it wasn’t his fault, was a shame, something that happened only to losers.

      Patrik must have been in real distress when he seeked support from Eicca, whom he had known only for a couple of days. Or was it just cold blooded calculation? The way he took Eicca’s hand when he had to confront other band members told a lot of their relationship. Eicca was over ten years older than Patrik and a very masculine tall man, an epitome of a protector.  Just now Patrik needed protection and Eicca offered him that. Maybe Eicca liked that more than being dominated by Franky.

        The situation in the hallway was considerably tense before Perttu interfered and proposed that Eicca and Patrik would sort things out in Eicca’s office and the rest of the band would continue rehearsals. He showed real leadership there and I was proud of him. After the interruption Eicca walked Patrik into his office and took him again into his arms.  Eicca removed the straps of Patrik’s ponytail and released the wonderful mass of brown hair on his shoulders. Eicca pushed his fingers into Patrik’s hair, raised his jaw and kissed him gently and carefully. Patrik made a strange whining sound and surrendered to his kiss like that was the most wonderful thing in the world.  This kiss was probably what he had longed for already some time. I felt cold shivers in my non-existent body, when I saw that. I had ruined our plan completely. If Patrik had fallen in love with Eicca, he would never give him up voluntarily.

      “There…Are you feeling any better now?” Eicca asked and stroked Patrik’s teary face with his hand after releasing him from his embrace.

      “Yes, your kiss was wonderful”, Patrik sighed. “But it doesn’t bring me my job back.”

      “No, it doesn’t, but I hope it helps you to think about the future and what other jobs you could find. The world doesn’t end in losing a job, vice versa. The world is full of new opportunities for young and sharp guys like you. Don’t worry. I will help you if you want me to.”

      “Of course I want to. I knew you were a good person the minute I saw you”, Patrik replied and raised his hand to touch Eicca’s face. Eicca closed his eyes and sighed deep when he felt Patrik’s fingers sliding softly on his cheek.

      “To be honest, I fell in love with you during our first interview. You were so professional and enthusiastic about what you’re doing. After that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. That’s why I came here today. I wanted to see you so much that it almost killed me.”

      “So you’re not crying only over your job but your love for me as well. Why?” Eicca wondered.

      “Because you have Franky and I didn’t believe you’d want me.”

      “Well, you were wrong. You are very hard to resist. Haven’t you noticed that?” Eicca snickered and pressed his lips on Patrik’s forehead. “I’m happy that you came here, but now I think you should go home and tidy yourself up. I will come and see you after our rehearsal is over. Is that okay?”

      “Yes, that would be great. I’m sorry that I caused such a mess”, Patrik replied sounding happier.

      Eicca called a taxi for Patrik to send him home and I took the opportunity to follow him there. I wanted to know where he lived in case I needed to see him personally. I left Patrik to recover from his ordeal and returned to my body. Things hadn’t actually gone as we had planned but we had created a distraction that was going to ruin Eicca’ and Franky’s relationship as lovers. That was a good start.


	4. Bad news

## Bad news (4)

      I kept my tabs on Eicca the rest of the day because I wanted to see what happened between him and Franky. All I could tell was that they were quickly returning to a professional relationship. Eicca had lost his interest in Franky, which was a good thing. Instead he was paying all his attention to Patrik. I could see that in the way he kept glancing at his watch and looked impatient when things didn’t work out as rapidly as he wanted.  He was dying to see Patrik. That would also have been a good thing if Patrik had played the game, but he didn’t.

      While the rest of band was heading to a downtown restaurant to celebrate the completion of their work, Eicca drove to Helsinki with his own car to meet Patrik. I followed him to see how Patrik was doing. Eicca was very nervous when he rang Patrik’s doorbell. He shuffled his feet, fiddled with his hair and behaved like a guy who was meeting his first date.  When Patrik opened the door, he looked gorgeous in his simple white T-shirt and blue jeans. His hair was free and flowed on his shoulders and back looking slightly wavy. He had probably just washed it. Eicca gazed him for a second and then grabbed him into his arms without a word. “You’re so beautiful” he whispered when he finally could speak.

       Patrik smiled and slid a long strand of Eicca’s blond hair through his fingers. “You don’t look bad yourself either. Did you complete your work as planned?” he asked while taking Eicca’s jacket and hanging it on a peg in the hall.

     “Yes, everything is in order. We are actually having a dinner tonight to celebrate that”, Eicca said sounding suddenly very unsure.

     The happy smile on Patrik’s face vanished the moment he realized that Eicca wasn’t going to stay. “Oh, I was hoping you could spend some time with me tonight”, he said looking sad and disappointed. He turned his back to Eicca and walked over to his living room window to hide his tears.

      “How are you doing? Does the future look any brighter now that you’ve had time to think about it?” Eicca asked and walked over to Patrik, folded his arms around the younger man and snuggled his lovely brown hair. Patrik was doing his best to control his tears but one of them dropped on Eicca’s hand and betrayed him.

      “Sorry, I’m still too emotional about all this. I know I shouldn’t cry but I can’t help it.”

      “Would you like to join me and the rest of the band for the dinner?” Eicca suddenly asked after a short silence. “I’m sure they’d like to meet you.”

        “What about Franky?” Patrik hesitated. “Are you sure he won’t mind?”

        “I’ll call Perttu and we’ll hear what they say. They should already be at the restaurant.” Eicca proposed.

       After a short discussion with Perttu it looked as if the band was welcoming Patrik to join the party. Patrik changed over to dark blue trousers, white shirt and stylish blue brocade jacket. He looked stunning and he knew it. “Holy cow. You look like a Vogue model” Eicca huffed when he saw Patrik in his evening outfit. “Let’s go before I do anything rash.”

      The restaurant wasn’t very far away from where Patrik lived so Eicca left his car and they took a walk to the place. It was interesting to observe the faces of the band members when Eicca turned up with Patrik on his side. Franky frowned but put on friendly face and shook hands with Patrik. Perttu couldn’t take his eyes off the young man. Their handshake took some time while Perttu gazed into Patrik’s eyes and said something in a low voice. I couldn’t hear what that was, a compliment perhaps.  Mikko and Paavo were both friendly but somewhat reserved. They were probably happy about Eicca losing his interest in Franky but didn’t like this new distraction in Eicca’s life.

      Maybe it was the happiness that radiated from Eicca that made everybody feel good and relaxed. Anyway, in no time the atmosphere in the table changed from reserved into lively and excited. The recording of their new album would start next week and everybody felt that they were ready for this enormous challenge. They had almost two months of hard work ahead of them. That meant also a long time away from home as the recording would take place in Nashville.

      The long stay in Nashville came as a shock to Patrik. He clutched Eicca’s hand looking almost desperate. “I didn’t realize you were going away for such a long time”, he whispered to Eicca.

      “I’m sorry. All I have thought about these last few days were you and completing our work on time. I forgot that you didn’t know about our travelling plans.

      “That’s okay, I understand, but it’s going to be hard without you. I hope we can keep in touch somehow during that time”, Patrik replied trying to sound brave although he wasn’t. They had only tonight left before Eicca and Perttu would be heading for Nashville.


	5. The angel wing

## The angel wing (5)

      Patrik was very silent when he sat beside Eicca in the taxi on their way home. Eicca glanced at him a couple of times but didn’t say anything. They both knew what was going to happen next.

      “Will you spend the night with me?” Patrik asked when they had said good night to their companions and got off the taxi.  His eyes were gleaming in the dark strangely beautiful and full of longing.

      Eicca gazed into Patrik’s waiting eyes. “I really should go and pack my things for tomorrow’s flight but that can wait for a while”, he promised. 

      When Patrik had closed the door behind them, he walked directly into Eicca’s waiting arms. “Please hold me”, he whispered and rested his cheek on Eicca’s chest. “I want to make love with you.”

       “I’d like that too, but I think I need to clean up first. It’s been a long day for me”, Eicca calmed down his eager companion.

       “Sorry, of course. You can take a shower while I make the bed for us”, Patrik said looking a bit embarrassed. Eicca had been working from early morning. Why didn’t he come to think about that?

     Patrik had plenty of time to remove the bed covers, undress himself and make sure that everything they needed was available before Eicca finished his shower. Patrik was dressed in his yukata and he was sitting on the bed leafing an old magazine when Eicca stepped in wearing Patrik’s towel on his waist. “That was refreshing”, he said and stopped standing in front of Patrik.

      “You don’t need this”, Patrik murmured and reached his hands to remove the towel. He gasped slightly when the towel fell on the floor and exposed Eicca’s erection. He caressed Eicca’s hipbones with his hands and then folded his fingers around Eicca’s manhood. “You’re a handsome man in all respects” he whispered and slid his hand along the stem of his dick. Eicca closed his eyes and enjoyed the touch. “Would you like me to suck you?” Patrik asked and slid his lips and tongue along the Eicca’s stone hard dick. Eicca groaned and pushed his fingers into Patrik’s hair.

      “Yes, more than anything” he breathed and let out a long groan when Patriks lips folded around the head of his dick and his hand started to jerk him off.

     “I loved your blow job”, Eicca smiled, stroke Patrik’s cheek with his fingers and gazed into his hypnotizing eyes. They were lying under the duvet in Patriks bed facing each other and enjoying the first moments of their love life. Eicca’s other hand made it’s way to Patrik’s dick and his fingers studied the contours of his secret weapon. “What would you like me to do with this?” he asked playfully.

      “Well, actually I would like to do something with it myself, if you don’t mind.”

      “What would that be?” Eicca wondered trying to sound innocent.

      “I would like to sink it inside you and stay there forever”, Patrik replied becoming harder under Eicca’s hand.

      “That sounds wonderful and I don’t mind”, Eicca snickered. “How do you want me?”

      “I want to fuck you from behind,” Patrik stated his wish very explicitly and reached for a lube and condoms on his night table.

      “You can’t imagine how much I want you”, he breathed into Eicca’s ear when he had pushed himself inside him. “I’ve been dreaming about this day and night after I met you.” His young, firm body was now moving on Eicca’s back slowly but steadily searching for fulfilment. His long hair mingled with Eicca’s blond strands as he kissed Eicca’s neck and shoulders. It was an absolutely unforgettable sight; two angels fucking each other to oblivion. No words were needed. The room was filled only with heavy breathing and Eicca’s occasional groans when they approached the climax.

      Eicca was leaving and they were standing in Patriks hall to say goodbye. “I hate the idea that I don’t see you for weeks” Patrik whispered his voice breaking down. Tears filled his eyes and started flowing down his cheeks.

      Eicca dried his face with his hand. “I know, I hate that too, but I can’t help it. That’s my work. I’m away a lot, sometimes recording, mostly on tour. You’ll have to get used to it.”

      “I understand, but it feels especially bad now that I have just found you. I wish I could have a part of you here with me.”

      “Would it help if I gave you this?” Eicca asked and touched a beautiful angel wing pendant on his chest. He opened the lock and handed the necklace to Patrik.

      “Will it protect me from missing you to death?” Patrik asked and gazed the pendant on his palm.

      “No, it won’t do that, but you can always think that I’m there on your chest listening to your heart beat.”

     “That sounds very comforting”, Patrik smiled and hung the necklace on himself.

     “It looks beautiful on you”, Eicca said and kissed Patriks forehead. “I will keep in touch with you as much as I can”, he promised and left closing the door quietly behind him.

       Patrik stood in the hall holding the pendant in his hand and tried to prevent himself from crumbling into pieces. Finally he stalked into his bedroom and crawled back into his messy bed bursting into tears. That night was going to be long and painful for him.


	6. Painkiller

## Painkiller (6)

      I knew I had my chance now that Eicca and Perttu would be away and Patrik needed someone to comfort him. His pain was killing me as much as it was killing him. I had to do something to help.

      I decided to give Patrik a call on Sunday morning to see how he was doing. I let the phone ring over and over again but he didn’t pick it up. I would have to pay him a visit. I just couldn’t leave him alone today.  I was really anxious when I stood behind his door and waited for him to open up. It took a long time and a stubborn person like me to make him finally open the door. I’d never seen him in such a miserable condition. Maybe I looked the same when I thought Perttu had left me for good.

      “Can I come in? I think you need a friend today.” I said and stepped in without waiting for his answer.

      “How did you know about this?” he asked sounding like he had a severe cold. He must have been crying most of the night.

      “I have my information sources”, I replied not wanting to tell him about my spirit travels. “I know Eicca is travelling today with Perttu to Nashville and Perttu told me that you had joined their dinner last night. I just put two and two together.”

      “Thanks for coming. I don’t feel especially good at the moment”, Patrik admitted and smiled just a little.

      “I know how it feels. But think about the bright side. Eicca cares for you a lot judging by the pendant you’re wearing. That’s his lucky charm, has been for many years, and now you have it.”

      “Oh, I didn’t know that this was something special.”

      “It is, don’t lose it”, I warned him and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll make some breakfast for you while you take a shower and put your clothes on. I thought we could go out and have some fresh air after you have eaten.

      The weather was exceptionally good considering that it was late autumn. The sun was shining and there was a feeling of early spring rather than autumn. We took a long stroll along the shores of close by Seurasaari island. It’s outdoor museum area and wild nature made it an unique place to calm down in the middle of a hectic city.

      “You’re not planning to leave Eicca”, I stated the obvious fact, when we were standing on a rocky shore facing south, cool breeze blowing in our faces.

      “No, at the moment that feels impossible”, he admitted quietly and kicked small pebbles at his feet into the water his hands tugged deep into his pockets. “But you never know what happens. Maybe he chooses to leave me. Six weeks away is a long time. He will be working together with both Franky and Perttu. I’m just an unemployed consultant…”

      “Don’t undermine your charm. I know how it feels to miss you… more than anything”, I confessed and turned my face to follow a boat passing by. I didn’t want him to see the pain in my eyes.

      “I’m sorry if I’ve made you suffer. I care for you deeply, but it’s not the same as with Eicca.”

      “You know that I’ll be there for you if you need me, especially during these coming weeks”, I reminded him. That was the message I wanted him to understand. Maybe I wasn’t the best option for him but being second best was enough for me.

      “I will keep that in mind”, he promised and hugged me. It felt again so good to be in his arms and feel his closeness. I didn’t mind being his painkiller.


End file.
